Joint venture wins New York tunneling project

A $659-million railway-tunneling
contract has been won by a joint venture comprised of Granite Construction
Northeast, Traylor Bros. and Frontier-Kemper Constructors, according to International
Construction.

The contract was awarded
by New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Capital Construction
company and involves building the Queens bored tunnels and structures for Long
Island Rail Road's East Side Access project in New York.

In a statement Granite
Construction said its 42.5-percent share of the contract would be booked into
the third quarter of 2009.

When completed, the East
Side Access project will bring Long Island Rail Road service, the busiest
commuter railroad in the country, into New York's Grand Central terminal. This
will provide a direct route between Long Island and eastern Queens to
Manhattan's eastside. Currently the LIRR runs into Penn Station on the west
side of the city.

According to Granite Construction,
the Queens Bored Tunnels and Structures contract is the last major link in the
tunnels from Queens to Grand Central station.

The work includes the
excavation and the precast concrete lining of four bored tunnels beneath an
active rail storage yard. Totaling about two in length and 22 feet in diameter,
the tunnels will be excavated using two tunnel boring machines, each weighing
more than 450 tons.

The contract also includes
the excavation of three emergency exit structures, underpinning of existing
bridges and the demolition of various rail yard buildings. Work on the project
will begin immediately and is estimated to take 42 months to complete.